


What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

by adiva_calandia



Series: Stars, Rain, Sun, Moon [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Hijinks & Shenanigans, New Year's Eve, New Year's Fluff, New Year's Kiss, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 11:53:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3066875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adiva_calandia/pseuds/adiva_calandia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So a wizard and an Avenger head to Times Square to watch the ball drop. You know, like a normal couple. It'll be great.</p><p>It's just that there's a little trouble in the subway.</p><p>In which Steve Rogers is kind of an adrenaline junkie, Nita Callahan pretends she's the responsible one, and there are a couple of off-screen cameos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

_Maybe it's much too early in the game,_   
_Oh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same:_   
_What are you doing New Year's--_   
_New Year's Eve?_

 

When Steve first suggested going to watch the ball drop, Nita was pretty strenuous in her objections, truth be told.

"It's like a thousand people per square foot in Times Square," she told him. "It'll be cold and crowded and I'll spend the whole time worrying about someone stealing my wallet."

"You're a wizard," he objected. "Nobody's going to steal your wallet."

"Fine, nobody's gonna steal my wallet," she admitted. "But it'll still be crowded."

"That's part of the fun." He smiled down at the floor, that smile he gets when he's remembering another time. "Bucky and I used to go and see how close to the middle of the crowd we could get. Not that I could see much over everyone's heads."

Nita gave him a sidelong look at that. _Bucky and I used to_ is what Natasha would call a tell – an indication that whatever comes next is something Steve has been mulling over, usually something he thinks might help him find Bucky.

When Steve suggested Times Square again, Nita decided not to bring up the crowds again and agreed.

 

They haven't actually made it to Times Square yet, though. Downtown Manhattan on December 31st is a madhouse from the moment they get on the train east of Bowery. Nita would have to admit, though, that there are worse things than being squeezed next to Steve on a subway. He's quote-unquote incognito, wearing big hipster glasses and a baseball cap ("Who do you think you are, Clark Kent?" "I don't know, they seem to work okay."), and there's a certain delight in being the only two people on the F train who know that Captain America is out and about on New Year's Eve. They chat about inconsequential things – books and movies and this article Nita read about the horrors of instant ramen – and Nita thinks that this might be a pretty nice night after all.

When they get out of the station and back up to the sidewalk, both of them jump as their phones start buzzing, Steve's with a phone call, Nita's with a series of unreceived texts.

"Hello?"

_FROM: Tom Swale_   
_Nita, if you're still in NYC, I need you to get in touch with the GCT team ASAP_

"Can you narrow that down?"

_FROM: Tom Swale_   
_One of the gates is acting up and Rhiow's ppl can't handle strings+incoming_

"Which lines? All right, do you have an upper end at least?"

_FROM: Nita Callahan_   
_Incoming what???_

_FROM: Tom Swale_   
_Gate's connecting to diff. Planes, lot of dark creatures coming through. Look up Fyrd._

_FROM: Tom Swale_   
_Corral or subdue as much as poss before they get out of the tunnels_

_FROM: Tom Swale_   
_We'll get whoever we can to you as backup_

"Yeah, I've already got Nita."

_FROM: Nita Callahan_   
_Ok. I've already got Steve._

She looks up from her phone at the same time Steve hangs up his.

"I've got a situation," they chorus.

There's a beat, where they blink at each other; then both say, cautiously, "Wanna help?"

 

So it's New Year's Eve, the island of Manhattan is packed with partiers, and Times Square looks like a can of sardines.

On the one hand, reports are that there's a Hydra cell with unknown but probably violent plans underground somewhere between 40th and 50th. On the other hand, one of the worldgates in one of the busiest complexes on Earth is randomly spewing dark creatures from another plane of existence into the midtown subway tunnels.

"No sweat," Steve says, as they push their way back down into the station, against the flow of traffic.

"Yes sweat!" Nita objects. "It's--" She cuts herself off from saying _Hydra_ in a crowded subway station. "In New York? On New Year's?"

"There's a limited number of places they can be. Just a matter of finding them before midnight. What about yours?" They get out of the main crush of people and into an eddy near the turnstiles. "How many of these Furred--"

"Fyrd."

"Fyrd – are we talking about?"

Nita waves a hand. "They're mostly physically dangerous. As long as I can keep them away from people I ought to be able to deal with them."

"All right. Let's get down there." Steve scans the crowd, waits for a break in the flow of people, then vaults the turnstiles.

"Steve—"

Some MTA employee yells " _Hey!_ " The sound of footsteps suggests that they're going to be in trouble shortly.

Steve gives Nita a wide grin and holds out his arms.

"Oh, _Powers_ ," Nita groans, and scrambles up and over the turnstile herself. Steve catches her by the waist and helps her down, then grabs her hand and heads for the stairs at a trot. "We have MetroCards!"

"We're saving the city! Isn't that worth two dollars?" He pauses at an intersection, listening, then leads them towards one of the platform. "In my day you could eat pretty well for that."

"This is not 1930!"

"It's not 2014 for much longer either!"

"What is the world coming to," she demands as they skid around a corner, "when I'm more responsible than Captain America?"

They reach the platform just as a train is pulling away, leaving them momentarily more or less alone. The people on the opposite side of the tracks are engaged in their own worlds. Nita takes the lead now, hurrying them towards the nearest maintenance door. A few words in the Speech convince the lock to let them through; a few more convince it not to let anyone else through until they're gone, although the lock is clearly reluctant to be thought derelict in its duties.

In the moment of breathing space, Nita pulls out her manual and starts paging through for a schematic of New York's underbelly. "Which way are you heading?"

"North. I'll start as close to Times Square as I can and work my way south and east from there. You?"

"I should head east, towards Grand Central." She finally finds the map she needs and looks up at Steve. "Give me your phone."

He obliges her without question, and watches as she fiddles with the manual and the phone for a minute. When she hands it back, the map is glowing in miniature on the phone's screen.

"So you don't get lost," she says. "You gonna be okay?"

He grins at her and leans in to steal a kiss. "I'll be okay. Will you?"

"Don't worry about me, soldier." She reaches up to straighten his baseball cap. "Be careful. Kick Hydra ass for me."

"You too," he says, a little more serious. " _Dai stihó._ "

With that, he takes off down the hall and turns the corner out of sight. Nita shakes her head – and is secretly glad no one's here to see the fond, irrepresible smile on her lips.

"Dork," she mutters, and starts eastward.

 

An hour or so later they run into each other again, somewhere under 44th.

"Hey," Steve says, as Nita comes running down the tunnel towards him, "what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

" _Down!_ " Nita yells. She barrels into him and both of them hit the ground just in time to avoid a gout of flame from behind her. The smell of sizzling hair – Nita's – fills the tunnel. As soon as the flame passes by, Nita rolls up onto one elbow, throws her palm up, and yells six words in the Speech.

Steve watches, startled, as the – may as well call it a dragon, although it's pretty lizard-like and only about as big as a tiger – is struck by an invisible force and bowled backwards. It roars in frustration and pain. Nita hits it again, and it goes still with a squawk.

"You okay?" Steve asks, sitting up and giving Nita a hand to get to her feet.

"Yeah." She's out of breath, and a little singed and bruised, but otherwise unhurt. "Find anything yet?"

From the opposite direction, there's the sound of running footsteps and shouted orders. Nita and Steve exchange a look, then take off down the tunnel past the fallen dragon-thing.

 

It's gratifying to discover that you can actually punch a horwolf into submission. Or, well, Captain America can.

Equally gratifying is the discovery that the Hydra squad's night-vision goggles can't penetrate a _don't-notice-me_ spell, although only if Nita and Steve stay very, very still.

Nita gets a communique from Arhu after a couple of hours telling her that the gating team have finally gotten the misbehaving gate back into place. All that's left is the mopping up; scans of the area suggest that there are a couple more maws and a lone keplian to deal with. Steve thinks he's down to two Hydra agents.

They find them dead at a tunnel junction, left to lie where they fell. Nita and Steve exchange a confused look. Steve shakes his head – _not me_ – then puts a finger to his lips and points to his eye. _Keep quiet; look around._

Nita nods and scouts around the area briefly. For a second she thinks she sees someone crouched in the shadows down one of the tunnels, but the longer she looks, the more she thinks it's just a shadow. When she returns to Steve and crouches down next to him, she murmurs, "All clear."

He nods. "They've been garroted."

His voice is flat, and Nita gives him a concerned look. When he catches her gaze, he takes a deep breath. "Bucky."

Her eyes widen, and she bolts to her feet, hurrying back towards the tunnel where she stood so long staring at the shadows. They look different now, but she can't quite figure out why. Emptier?

She starts when Steve touches her back. "I thought . . ."

"We won't catch him if he doesn't want to be caught," Steve says. His voice is carefully pitched to carry through the tunnels. "But he helped us."

Nita watches Steve for a moment, uncertain what to do or say. His gaze is fixed on the end of the tunnel – maybe looking for a glint of metal or movement. Finally, he sighs and touches her shoulder again.

"Let's get out of here."

When they get back to the surface and the sidewalk, they find that the crowds are streaming away from Times Square, talking and laughing, noticeably drunker and more tired than they were last time they were aboveground. Nita checks her watch and lets out a dismayed exclamation.

"We missed the ball dropping! It's 2015."

"We missed midnight?"

"Yeah." She looks up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry. I know you wanted to see it."

He gives her one of his wry smiles and takes her hands in his. "There's always next year. Here – I know this is a little late, but—"

He puts his hands on her waist and leans in to kiss her, his hands and lips and breath warm in the chilly air. Nita lets out a pleased little noise and wraps her arms around his neck. Outside the kiss, the crowd splits and flows around them, most of them ignoring them, one or two providing approving commentary.

When they break apart, his hat knocked slightly askew, he smiles. "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," she murmurs back -- and goes in for the second kiss of 2015. Just to see if it can be improved upon.


End file.
